Paramount+ has cancelled Criminal Minds: Evolution, and the long-running crime procedural will end with its 20th season, Variety reported. The news broke on Friday, 30 October US time, and Season 20 will air in 2027. Stars A.J. Cook, Paget Brewster, Kirsten Vangsness and RJ Hatanaka responded on social media, looking back on the show's 20-season run.
Twenty seasons, compiled by KBVN+
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| 2005 | Criminal Minds debuts; A.J. Cook begins playing agent Jennifer Jareau (JJ) |
| January 2019 | CBS renews the original for a 15th and final season |
| 2022 | Evolution revives the franchise from Season 16 |
| May-July 2026 | Season 19 airs |
| 2027 | Season 20, the final season, is due to air |
Evolution picks up after the events of the original Criminal Minds and streams on Paramount+.
The cast says goodbye
Cook marked the news with a Halloween photo of herself wearing a tombstone for Jennifer Jareau, captioned "Rest in peace JJ (for now) #criminalminds #halloween #stillprocessing". JJ was the BAU's media and police liaison before becoming a profiler.
Brewster, who has played FBI supervisory special agent Emily Prentiss since Season 2, shared a black-and-white photo with the text "Free Agent." Hatanaka, who joined in Season 16 as agent Tyler Green, posted a cast photo captioned "Just the finest group of people."
Vangsness, who has played technical analyst Penelope Garcia since Season 1, posted a video on Instagram. "Social media is sort of like getting to do your own press conference I guess. This has happened. It's being canceled, but then it says right there it's ending 'for now,'" she said. She compared the moment to Charlie getting the chocolate in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a little bittersweet, and added: "But I love my job, and my boss Erica Messer says there are so many more stories to tell. So if we get to keep telling them somewhere, that would be amazing."
Why it matters
For viewers who have followed the BAU team since 2005, Season 20 will be the last chapter of Evolution on Paramount+. Yet the cast's repeated emphasis on "for now" suggests the door to new stories is not entirely closed.
What comes next
Season 20 is due in 2027. Variety did not give a specific date or say whether the franchise could continue elsewhere.